My friend invited me to a fancy steakhouse \u2014 one of those places where a glass of water feels like it costs $10. Before we went, I told her I couldn\u2019t afford to spend $200 on dinner, so I\u2019d just order something small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we got there, she went all out: a massive steak, three sides, wine, and dessert. I ordered a simple salad and stuck with water. I thought it was clear that we\u2019d each pay for what we ordered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when the waiter brought the bill, she smiled sweetly and said, \u201cWe\u2019ll just split it!\u201d \u2014 as if it was the most natural thing in the world. My total was maybe $15\u2026 hers easily over $150.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I felt my stomach drop. But I just smiled and said, \u201cSure.\u201d What she didn\u2019t know was that earlier, I had quietly told the waiter to bring two separate checks<\/strong> when it was time \u2014 I even gave him a discreet nod before she noticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the bill arrived, he placed two folders on the table. Her smile froze. She looked confused. I calmly replied, \u201cYeah, splitting the evening \u2014 not your steak.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The silence that followed was priceless. She paid her $180 tab without another word. Sometimes, standing your ground doesn\u2019t need a fight \u2014 just a little preparation and perfect timing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My friend invited me to a fancy steakhouse \u2014 one of those places where a glass of water feels like it costs $10. Before we went, I… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cOh,\u201d she stammered, \u201cI thought we were splitting?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n